Vangen Church (Aurland)


Vangen Church is the main parish church in Aurland Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Aurlandsvangen, at the end of the Aurlandsfjorden. It is the church for the Vangen parish which is part of the Sogn prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin. The white, stone church was built in a long church design and in early Gothic style around the year 1202. The church seats about 270 people.
Vangen Church is the largest of the seven medieval stone churches in the Sogn og Fjordane region, leading it to be called the Sognedomen or Sogn Cathedral.

History

The church probably built in two stages in the 13th century. There is a foundation stone in the church on which the date 2 May 1202 is inscribed. A local historian, Anders Ohnstad, has stated that King Sverre had local ties to Aurland and he died in March 1202, so the church may have been constructed on his orders.
The church has a rectangular nave and a smaller, narrower choir. It does not have a sacristy, porch, or tower. The stone walls of the church are all high and are also about thick. The ceiling of the church reaches high at the highest point. The church has a hexagonal pulpit from the early 17th century. It is decorated with painted tulips, brass ornaments, and pilasters in green, yellow and red against a pale yellow background. The church was restored both in 1861-1862 and again in 1926.

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